The project for Computer Assistance in Critical Care Decision Making is focused on the development of a computer language, called AID, to be used for consultation in the acute care of trauma and burn victims. The system should overcome the underutilization of complex data now collected by ICU information systems by providing warning of their interpretation and clinical significance to nurses and physicians. The system will serve as a real-time background monitor, screening data as they are entered into patients' computer records. The language has been designed as an extension to PASCAL and provides for powerful capabilities for retrieval, from the computerized medical record so that consultation may occur without time-consuming data entry by physicians. It also permits interpretations of varying degrees of certainty when data are missing. The initial clinical applications are for ventilatory management, head trauma, and fluid/electrolyte balance. Clinical knowledge is represented as sequential decision trees; development of decision logic should lead to a more basic understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of trauma.